METAL ANALYSIS OF TWENTY TETRARCHY ARGENTEUS and TWENTY FOLLIS ( part 2)

[stlnats]

Yes, you are right  The nummus was 32 to the pound not 36.  My mistake.  The post reform radiate was 110 but the pre-reform was slightly heavier at 96.

Shawn

Knew that Dio's silver piece was 96/lb, but not the pre reform radiate which seems to have been originally set at ~4 gm (80/lb) standard.  Except for the Oxford reference, can't find anything in my admittedly less than up to date library on this topic;do you have a cite showing the reduction in weight from 274-293? I might be being pedantic, but I do like to like to keep the ducks aligned when I can and I would like to look at this period again in more depth as time permits so I'm trying to update my knowledge.  Thanks.

[glebe]

The argenteus was 1/10 of a solidus. The "siliqua" was, apparently, 1/24 of a solidus.
An argenteus of 96 denarii communes implies a solidus of 960 d.c. and hence a siliqua of 40 d.c.
An argenteus of 100 d.c. implies a solidus of 1000 d.c. and hence a siliqua with the not very convincing value of 41.7 d.c.
Perhaps the Aphrodisias inscription (that the argenteus was worth 100 d.c.) was simply a local edict of convenience.

Ross G.

[SC]

Aaaarrgh!  Yes stinats.  You are absolutely right.  The dangers of posting at work from memory, which seems less and less reliable these days.  1/80 and 1/32, not my original 1/96 and 1/36.

Shawn

[stlnats]

The dangers of posting at work from memory, which seems less and less reliable these days. 

I suffer from the same affliction so "feel your pain!"  Appreciate the update.

BTW, the thread took a rather interesting detour, so to return to the start:  15 of the coins analyzed indicated >5% silver; 11 had 8% or more.  These results are so different than what I recall from other analyses (mean of 4% or thereabouts) that I wonder what's going on. 

[hposner]

Hi everyone,
                    Just a minor contribution to the silver: gold  ratio argument. What follows only applies on September 2nd 301 ce, when the fiscal edict and the price edict had just both been published.
A 100 denarii argenteus ( and it really does have to be that) works out at roughly 30 denarii a gram of silver. To keep the 12:1 ration gold has to be roughly 360 denarii a gram. A 5.4 gram aureus then works out at roughly 2000 denarii.  I lean towards a 2000 denarii, mainly because apart from the ratio argument it also fits a much higher proportion of the edict prices ( especially when you  add in half aurei, which were occasionally minted in the years just after 301 ce)  than either the 1500 or the 1200. Of course a 1000 aureus also works with the edict prices, but that makes the  silver to gold ratio less that 5:1, and i can't buy that as an idea.
Nothing is definite about the aureus or the follis until we get another shard uncovering earthquake, but thanks to all this debate I am firming up more and more towards values of 1 or 2, 4, 25, 100 and 2000 denarii  for the silverless radiate/aurelianus/follis/argenteus/aureus set.